After a long drive away to Littleport we were looking to carry on what we started the week before vs Chatteris. However this would not be the case. We turned up to find that the pitch we were playing on would be deemed by some as unplayable. Layer upon layer of mud and horrible long grass covered the pitch as well as the goal mouths filled with sawdust. That having been said the game kicked off, straight away we managed to gain control of the game and with our best efforts we were trying to maintain our possession to the best of which we could. Luke and Josh in the middle were knocking the ball about in the middle of the pitch the only thing that stopped them was the bogginess of the pitch which was slowing the ball down and even causing the ball to stop to a halt.
We started the game well with a few not so far of strikes from our midfielders and our attackers. It was soon to pay off as Milton managed to get the ball with the perfect pass to slot Bramley through for a one on one with the goalkeeper which was slotted bottom left hand corner to make it 1-0. Littleport however responded brightly with a few encouraging forward runs from the number 9 causing our defence some problems. However, after some quality defending from our back four we managed to catch them on the break playing some quality football with James Woo on the left hand side causing the Littleport right back countless problems and forcing him to make some silly fouls. After some nice play in the middle of the park the midfielders managed to slot Milton through for a one on one with the goal keeper to which Milton selflessly passed the ball across the face of goal for Bramley to poke home to increase Buckden’s lead to 2 0.
After our second goal we gained control of the game again with Lovey on the right hand side in his James Milner role controlling the pace of the game very well and holding possession very well and a few chances for Jack Bramley up top to which their keeper was their saviour. Littleport out of frustration were giving away countless fouls and some of their players arguably could have seen red if not definitely some yellows. In amongst all this Lovey got hit with a horrible double foot challenege from the Littleport Winger to which he went down like a little school girl and had to be taken off. Littleport started attacking again with one of their chances cleared off the line by some brilliant defending from Chris Dennis. Shortly after this the Littleport striker was gifted a goal from a defensive mistake to make the score 2-1.
The second half did not start so well as we struggled to gain control of the game and wake up a bit with Littleport giving us countless problems at the back from their Wingers putting some very convincing crosses in with Ollie Day and our defensive line dealing with them well. However this would not pay off as soon after the Littleport winger managed to put in a brilliant ball to their number 9 who snuck away from our defenders unmarked for a brilliant diving header into the top corner. This caused us to wake up a bit and start pressing on with the game and started to press more and more with some encouraging strikes from our midfielders. Unfortunately this would all go to waste as Littleport took advantage of a defensive mistake to make it 3-2 .We reacted straight away attacking and winning a few free kicks and corners of which were proving to be quite dangerous. At last we equalized with a late cross from Luke which fell to Bramley which was miss controlled (still claiming the assist) rolling for Josh Smith to accidently slip forward having closed his eyes with a toe punt that ended up in the not so top corner of the goal. It was 3-3 with both teams pressing high and attacking one another. Both teams had some very convincing chances with Milton up top who was inches away from scoring a top corner strike to which he very much deserved and with Littleport’s Wingers causing some problems with their crosses. Sadly in the very late stages of the game the Littleport winger went to stick a cross in which sliced off his foot towards our goal which caught Ollie Day off guard and scrambling backwards to which the unplayable surface caused him to slip and get lobbed to make it 4-3 for a goal that the winger could never do again if he tried. Buckden had one last attack with a free kick on the left hand side to which was curled in to Ollie to almost make up for his error just heading the ball wide of the post. Overall we had it very tough with the ground being how it was and a few mistakes which were very unlike us. Unlucky lads! Lets do them at home.
